As long as man has been on this earth, he has made us of the elements of nature to treat, cure and appease different ailments.
Throughout history, a multitude of people, including those of Scandinavian countries, North Africa, Turkey and India have relied on various forms of sweating techniques, to promote good health. From as far back as Ancient Rome and Greece, these civilizations used the sweating process as a means to maintaining, and, in many cases, bringing back health and vigor. A great variety of health problems such as chronic pain, respiratory disorders and skin irritations were treated by this process which they considered as essential to life as food, water and air.
The Aztecs and other people of Mexico and Central America also made use of healthful sweating sessions as part of regular therapeutic and medical practices. Still in use today in Mexico is the Temazcal (a native Nahuatl word), temas, for bath, and calli, for house, where in a primitive-looking stone or mud hut steam bach are practiced.
The same beneficial principles still hold true today. The practice of including sweat has so many therapeutic benefits. It can alleviate a large number of symptoms and largely improve one's health. This induced heat reproduces the effects of a high fever (nature's way of ridding the body of infection) by stimulating and increasing the body's normally occurring internal exchanges. It produces effects similar to those caused by strenuous exercise and raises the metabolism, bringing increased circulation to all muscles, organs and tissues. By calling the body's normal defense mechanisms into action, it greatly stimulates the natural healing process. This overheating of the body helps to eliminate toxins at a much faster rate. Thus, with blood circulation increased and sweating increased, the elimination of toxins is maximized. Considered to be the body's third lung, the skin absorbs nutrients but also excretes what it does not need. Excessive sweating, in a controlled and safe environment, will accelerate this process bringing improved health and well-being.
With aging comes a slowing down of the body's normal healing capacities and this is how deterioration sets in. The body does not excrete internal waste, toxins and hyperacidity, also a cause of weakened and deteriorated organs, muscles and tissues, as it should. Bodily functions are slowed and a degradation of all tissues ensues. The oxidation process begins and allows for the development of illness and diminished physical and mental capacities. We have all heard of antioxidant foods and dietary supplements intended to slow down this process but there are also techniques and practices that prevent the oxidation of the body.
The use of preventive measures is key to continued good health. Physical activities such as regular exercise (where sweating occurs) can help to slow down the aging process. Saunas provide a humid heat that offers limited possibilities. The body is not capable of enduring this combination of high temperature and raised humidity levels for very long as the skin pores react to this extreme humidity by closing up, hindering the elimination process. Whereas an environment that would provide a dry heat would rather cause the skin pores to open and release water to fool the skin and eliminate waste freely allowing the user to easily sustain heat exceeding the body's normal temperature by over 50° Fahrenheit, long enough to produce noticeable results. In these conditions, viruses, bacteria and microbes are virtually annihilated or considerably weakened. Furthermore, it has been scientifically proven that 30 to 40 minutes of intense sweating allows for the elimination of acidity and toxins equivalent to 24 hours of normal kidney function.
Primary sweating is the time spent in the sweating environment, in a sitting position, that opens the pores of the skin for the excretion of toxins and is considered the hygienic portion of the session. This session should take place in a calm and peaceful atmosphere. Secondary sweating is the resting period (post-sweating environment) where the user lies in a strategic position covered by different layers of clothing, sheets and blankets to undergo secondary sweating and is considered the therapeutic portion of the session. This enables the body to sweat abundantly at first, then, sweating diminishes gradually slowly easing the body back to its normal temperature. In this second phase, a much greater volume of toxins and waste is eliminated than the sweating that is generated by a bath or sauna.
It is known to use a shower enclosure to convert it for therapeutic use. However, that therapeutic use has been restricted to the generation of steam in the enclosure to provide a steam bath. Example of such prior art can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,142,713, 5,293,653. In this latter reference the device for producing steam is incorporated in the roof of an existing shower stall whereby to convert it to sauna. The conversion of the roof consists of a compact box shaped roof having a fan for forced air circulation within the shower enclosure and a vaporizer, supplied directly by a water source through a valve, produces the steam. The vaporizer is operated intermittently by a timer which is interlocked by two thermostats. The steam is circulated by a forced air circulation system.
Steam baths have been known as providing limited therapeutic effect for the reason that the steam deposits water-particles on the skin of the user person and provides an insulation to the skin from the temperature in the enclosure. The tolerance of a person being subjected to a steam bath is usually limited to about 120° F. This temperature is not sufficiently high to cause the body to create a defensive mechanism by transpiring and thereby provide a therapeutic effect by eliminating toxins quickly.
To do so the internal temperature of the body needs to be increased towards 101° F. to 102° F. At those temperatures virus and bacteria will die and other beneficial effects are obtained when the internal body temperature is raised to those levels. As pointed out above, it is not possible to achieve this with steam saunas due to the fact that the skin is insulated by the humid environment depositing water on the user's skin.
Sauna devices for small enclosures are also known such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,662 and wherein the heating device is in the form of a radiation panel which is secured adjacent the ceiling of the enclosure. The radiation panel comprises a resistive heating element which radiates heat within the enclosure. A blower also circulates the air within the enclosure. If the enclosure was a shower stall type enclosure then a person standing or seated in the enclosure would receive this radiation heat directly on his head and this would cause the user person adverse effects making it very difficult to resist the heat radiation as it would not be too concentrated and gradually heat the entire body. Accordingly, this type of device would be unsuitable for use in a therapeutic shower enclosure adapted for use by a single user person. Accordingly, a heater device as disclosed in this patent is not recommended.
The advantages of the therapeutic shower enclosure of the present invention are many, and namely to cleanse the skin through dry heat sweating process, to purify nasal passages by clearing mucous membranes, to reduce stress levels and pain by stimulating the production of endorphins (the “feel good” hormones, to increase body heat reproducing the effects of a high fever, warding off viruses and other micro-organisms, and to stimulate the elimination of accumulated toxins or harmful metal such as lead and mercury, chemical products or fungus present in the body.
Regular sweating sessions offer a myriad of health advantages. In addition to relieving aches and pains related to rheumatism, arthritis and other chronic diseases, they can relieve cold and flu symptoms and congestion, alleviate the discomfort and pain of various skin diseases, as well as bring a strengthened immune system to better health in general.